Monday, August 01, 2011

News: MAXON Unveils CINEMA 4D Release 13

Today, MAXON announced CINEMA 4D Release 13, the next generation of its industry- leading 3D motion graphics, visual effects, painting, and rendering software application. With all new character tools, integrated stereographic capabilities, stream-lined multi-artist collaboration and physical rendering, CINEMA 4D Release 13 builds on the company’s 25-year legacy of enabling digital content creators around the world to produce highly engaging content quickly and easily for a variety of industries.

As MAXON commemorates its 25-year anniversary and its most successful year to date in 2010, Harald Egel, MAXON founder and CEO, observes that today’s work environments are marked increasingly by designers creating content in remote locations, working on various platforms and production pipelines, as well as producing more 3D stereoscopic material.

"CINEMA 4D R13 is supercharged with numerous productivity enhancements that cater to the multi-collaboration challenges our customers face every day,” Harald Egel states. “Artists interested in expanding their capabilities will love the new character tools. And, of course, the physical renderer with stereoscopic functionality is incredibly important as the new way to deliver immersive entertainment.”

Key Highlights of CINEMA 4D Release 13:MAXON offers four versions of CINEMA 4D, each catering to the needs of 3D artists in different industries. NOTE: The features listed below may not be included in every configuration.

New and Enhanced Rendering EngineDigital artists are constantly striving to improve the quality of their images. This new version gives CINEMA 4D users a bundle of new tools to aid in achieving the realism they crave.

Physically-Accurate Rendering: Creating photorealistic images is easier than ever with the new physical render engine. Based on real camera properties, this additional render engine accurately calculates 3D motion blur, depth of field and lens distortion based on the focal length, aperture and shutter speed of the camera.

Efficient Subsurface Scattering: Now users can efficiently create translucent materials such as milk, skin and wax with a new subsurface scattering shader included with both the new Physical Render and CINEMA 4D's standard render engines.

Shared Image Sampler: Saves tons of render time by combining sampling for multiple effects such as motion blur, depth of field, area shadows, ambient occlusion and blurry reflections. Sample options allow users to specify a fixed number of samples, apply an adaptive number of samples based on the geometry and shading complexity, or progressively render each frame within a given number of passes or amount of time.

New Anti-Aliasing Filters: Users can now achieve higher quality anti-aliasing using the Mitchell and Gauss algorithms.

Stereoscopic 3D WorkflowStereoscopic capabilities are supported throughout R13 to provide a dependable solution and fluid workflow for generating high-quality 3D content across a wide variety of media:

Stereoscopic Camera Conversion: Gives users control to easily convert any camera to a Parallel, On Axis, Off-Axis or Radial Stereoscopic camera.

Stereo Image Workflow and Preview: Stereo images can be previewed directly in the 3D editor using Anaglyph, Interlaced, Shutter or Side-by-Side methods.

More Accessible Character Tools The new suite of character animation features simplify the process of building a rig, eliminating technical hurdles and allowing artists to quickly animate characters of all types:

New Character Object: Includes an auto rigger, which simplifies the process of building a rig and applying it to a character. Technical directors are able to set up flexible rig templates that any user can easily apply to their characters.

New CMotion System: Allows users to create their own or apply preset parametric walk cycles based on cyclic motion. Make characters walk along a spline and over terrain, or even manually place footsteps. Can be integrated with the character object or applied to anything in a scene.

New Muscle System: CINEMA 4D R13 now allows users to create custom-shaped muscles and anchor them to multiple joints within a rig. Includes deformer for skin stretching and sliding.

New Collision Deformer: Deforms surfaces based on collisions enabling characters to intuitively interact with the environment around them.

Numerous Workflow, Modeling and Animation ImprovementsCINEMA 4D is renowned for outstanding ease of use. With an enhanced navigation system and a number of interface improvements in R13, users can perform common application tasks more efficiently:

Revamped Navigation System: New cursor-based navigation automatically sets the point of interest for rotation and dolly movements based on where the user clicks to begin navigation. This also ensures the speed of camera navigation is smooth and consistent, regardless of the distance to the point of interest - making it easy to pivot around any portion of a model or scene.

Sticky Keys: Allows users to activate a tool only while its shortcut is pressed and immediately return to the previous tool.

New Spline Data User Interface: Attributes utilizing spline data can now be edited much more precisely with additional spline types and the ability to view splines in a larger, separate window.

Location Indicator: Provides artists with a new indicator that hints at the location of selected objects outside the current view.

Surface Manipulation: Offers flexible options with a new Infinite Axis mode that lets users start manipulation from any point and easily snap surfaces to other objects in the scene. The rotation axis can now optionally display gimbal rotation, making it easy to visualize situations in which gimbal lock will occur, and can also transform multiple objects in a selection individually rather than as a group.

Animation Enhancements: Based on user feedback, a lot of tweaks were made to the animation system to improve efficiency, including clamping, better curve handling, markers, etc.

Operational Efficiency

Superior XRef Object: Improves artist efficiency with fully embedded XRef (External Reference) commands in R13 so referenced objects can be textured, animated, and included in expressions or simulations within the master file, greatly enhancing work in a collaborative environment.

Improved C.O.F.F.E.E. and Python Scripting Language Integration: Equips customers with improved integration of the powerful C.O.F.F.E.E. and Python scripting managers, giving programmers and developers a customizable solution for a wide range of software development tasks that can be utilized in any pipeline. Python plugins and scripts now appear alongside those created in CINEMA 4D's C++ and C.O.F.F.E.E. APIs.

File Format Support: Allows artists to access a range of popular file formats for greater workflow flexibility. Multi-Pass files can now be stored in multiple channels within a single OpenEXR file. The popular FBX and COLLADA file formats have been updated facilitating easier asset exchange and interoperability.

After Effects Exchange: Gives customers using R13 unparalleled integration with After Effects with the introduction of stage object support, timeline marker exports and support for 29.97fps.

Miscellaneous Productivity Boosting FeaturesCINEMA 4D R13 also includes many new productivity-boosting features, including a host of new and improved shaders and more.

System RequirementsRecommended system requirements include Windows XP, Vista or 7 running on Intel or AMD CPU with SSE2-Support; Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher running on an Intel-based Mac and 1024 MB RAM, DVD ROM drive. Up to 256 threads now supported. Standard DVD installation can take up to 2.5 GB of disk space.

Availability and Upgrade PathCINEMA 4D Release 13 and BodyPaint 3D Release 13 are scheduled to ship in September through MAXON and its authorized dealers. Customers with an active MAXON Service Agreement (MSA) valid through September 2nd will automatically receive the upgrade. Current customers who do not have an active MSA can purchase an MSA before the end of August and be eligible for a free upgrade. New customers who purchase from now until August 31st will automatically receive a one-year MSA with their purchase.